DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Recurring slow bath tub drain - any ideas?

For whatever reason, our main bath tub regularly gets backed up at least 2-3 a month. I usually just go for the Drano, but this is getting old.

Anyone have any ideas of the best way to rid a recurring, slow bath tub drain? Do I just keep with the Drano routine or time to call a plumber? I'm just afraid the plumber would simply pour the same stuff down the drain and charge me $200 for that service...

I don't know enough about this, so thought our handier members could advise the best way to get rid of this!

Thanks!

I had it happen to me and finally called the plumber in. He snaked the drain and busted through some 50 years of buildup in the pipe and it's working great now.

Yea, snake the drain, you can buy one or rent one or if you're uncomfortable get a plumber. Sounds like you have some real solid build-up down there and your Drano is just clearing enough of a path to get by but the real clog is remaining and it just keeps building back up.

It can be many things.

but normally if this is happening time and time again you might have something building up and will lead to bigger problem down the road and will probebly lead from a slow drain to a completely plugged drain and those get messy, if it's slow right now I'd rent or buy a drain snake and run this from your tub down, there are hand snakes which work if you take the time to use them correctly, once you have extened the snake to the end and found no clog, go down sairs and find your drain pipe, normally there is a screw type cover on one of the pipes, once you know it's your drain, you can open it and do the snake thing all over again. If you have never done this ask a friend for hewlp who has, after you have tried the snake and it hasnt helpped you can try a drano or something stronger, but normally you might end up getting a plumber, . If you try the drano route go to a hardware store and tell them you have a slow drain, you snaked it and it's slow they might have something more powerfull than draino for ya to try,

Once you get the drain open, there is a drain cleaner which you pour into your drains over night and it clings to the side of your pipe and eats away the scum that cliings to it, it works over time but ya have to do it to keep your pipes open.

Dont hesitate to call a local plumber ask around now, stay away from the huge heating & plumbing companies, they charge alot more than local small buisness owners, but ask now, and if you still have trouble dont hesitate calling one in, I waited and woke up last March wth 8 inches of water backed up in my basement, almost lost our water heater & furnace, thankfully we put them both up on blocks if not they would have fried.

Are you on city sewer? or septic? If you're on septic the liquids you pour down there could damage your tank so be careful.

Otherwise, I'd get the plumber out. It cost me $85 for him to snake it for me. I just went with a local guy.

Last year:

Heating & Plumbing Companie.....$ 525.00 snaked & pushed plug down farther into drain didnt snake past turned in pipe it clogged again.

After clogging again a week later I called in a local plumber $ 125.00 & he snakes my pipes from the place the clog first started to bottom thru out the house until it reached the pipes to the city sewer.

Needless to say the larger company recieved a phone call from me the next day. I did recieve some money back from them to cover the second plumber cost.

There's one minor thing that might be needed before you resort to plumbers and snakes.

Is there anything on your drain to trap hair and whatnot?

I'm pretty hairy and going bald (the wife loves it ). We were having a very slow drain once a month at our last apartment. I'd do the Drano every time, but like you said, it gets old. The drain was just an open hole and required a rubber stopper to keep water in. Turned out I was clogging the thing up. I'm sure she contributed, but not as much as me, the resident Sasquatch. As soon as we got something to catch anything other than water, our problems were solved.

As long as you or someone else keeps losing their hair, it is going to plug up.

Tub drains don't usually build up grease as does a kitchen drain.

Any recommendations for a plumber in the Mentor/Painesville area?

This is why Kramer wasn't so fair off base when he installed a garbage disposal in his shower.

How old is the house?

That will probably answer what type of plumbing you have. I am going to assume you have cast-iron (typically black pipe) as opposed to PVC. Use of PVC typically eliminates these problems if it is occuring within the piping. From what I've understood, the use of draino and other similar materials can damage these cast-iron pipes so I would be careful with the amount applied to the drain.

The best remedy is to snake the drain and piping. To do this, you need to remove the drain over-flow cap. I do not know how your plumbing is established, but the drain on our tub is controlled by a lever at the overflow outlet (see picture below).



Remove the screws of this cap after you have remove the drain. Lift up the cap and the rod attached to this from the tub.

Typically there will be a cone-like structure at the end of the rod that operates the drain as you move the lever. Alot of materials catch on this contraption (such as hair) and results in a slow drain for us. I clean this portion of the drain off and the slow drain goes away.

Once you have this cap off and cleaned up the cone-structure, you can slide a snake down the drain as shown in the photo. You can get a cheap snake at home depot from like 20 bucks. Just take it slow and dont force anything which may penetrate your pipe.

Worth a shot before you spend hundreds of bucks on a plumber.

1st stop the perms, and hair coloring your wife pays big bucks for. If that doesn't work shave both of your heads bald. Problem solved

Most woman who perm, AND color their hair shed like a English sheep dog.

I see.

Move.

Problem solved.

Quote:

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From what I've understood, the use of draino and other similar materials can damage these cast-iron pipes so I would be careful with the amount applied to the drain.

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You are correct. Repeated use of that stuff over the years at a hole through our old plumbing...causing a downpour in the downstairs bedroom.

There's an art and an aquired feel to using a snake! Too many people bust drain pipes by just forcing the snake into the drain. i'd use caution!!

Once clear, there's nothing better for any drain than a good old hot water douche! 5 minutes or so a week should keep it open. Greasy oily crap from foo foo soaps and shampoos are the biggest enemies! They go in and coagulate (sp? ) in the drain.

Don't waste money on cleaners that do more damage to pipes than help any clog!

Your best bet is to call a plumber... That is what i do for a living and alot of times when some one attempts to do things themselves it ends up costing them more in the long run... How old is the house? it could have a drum trap or lead pipe which is easy to cut through with a snake... Is the drain on the first floor?

As others have said...Drano is a waste of your time and money. I went through this 2 years ago. I finally called a plumber in and paid way too much since I called Roto Rooter. I've since found 2 additional well-priced local plumbers. Hopefully, since I've just re-plumbed my whole house, I won't need a plumber for years to come!

Anyway, sounds like you've got build up in your pipes. Call a pro to snake your pipes! Sorry, no recommendations for something local to you though.

Didnt you take a picture of your plumber? If I remember right?

One of them, yes...

You naughty lil girl you!

It's intresting to see how many diffrent opinons there are on how to unclog a slow drain.


This is not directed at anybody I just find the diffrent answers intresting,

I've always been told that the use of chemiclas to unclog pipes should be used sparingly, once or twice a year not monthly, which to me makes sence. Common sence would tell us if your using drano every week or month, thier is a bigger problem which if you havent done alot of plumbing before ask a friend who has, and if you have no plumbing friends call a plumber. I've always found local small buisness owners are not only fairly priced, but want your buissness again should something happen and will bend over backwards to do the job right the first time.

I prefer to just sit on the drain and fart. Clears that sucker right out.

Once again, the board saves the day.

I just bit the bullet and called HJack's plumbing in Mentor. I'll explain what they did in a moment after I preface this by saying once again that I AM NOT A HANDY PERSON AT ALL...

The guy was nice from HJack's. He could have easily charged me to snake the whole thing or whatever. He showed me the problem - tons of hair, lint, etc. clogging right under the main drain. The problem was that we had the bathroom remodeled a few months ago and I never had the guy show me how to properly clean the new drain out. I honestly have never seen a drain like this and was afraid of doing more harm than good.

So, we have a free flowing drain and he also recommended this - http://www.statewidesupply.com/

Just glad to have the problem solved and not standing in a bunch of water while showering!

HJack's link - http://www.hjacks.com/index.htm